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DR. YAO GRAHAM
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Friday, October 13, 2023
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The University of Cape Coast (UCC) has marked the 2023 World Mental Health Day (WMHD) celebration with a seminar on the theme, “Mental Health as a Universal Human Right”.
The day, an initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH), was first commemorated on October 10, 1992, and is commemorated every year to raise awareness of mental health and the need for stakeholders to support the sector.
A rapid assessment by the Mental Health Authority (MHA) in 2021 established that 16,000 people on the streets of cities, towns and villages across Ghana suffered severe mental illness.
According to the MHA, 41% of Ghanaians suffer psychological distress (ranging from mild, moderate, or severe cases) which costs the nation 7% of its GDP loss.
Dr. Mrs. Charlotte Omane Kwakye-Nuako, Senior Lecturer, Department of Forensic Science-UCC
Speaking on the theme for the event, a Lawyer and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Forensic Science-UCC, Dr. Mrs. Charlotte Omane Kwakye-Nuako, underlined some of the rights that govern mental health in Ghana and what the rights meant for a mental health patient and health practitioners.
According to her, access to mental health is a human right that should not be infringed upon.
She pointed out that the Mental Health Act 2012 clearly proves that there were mental health laws, however, it was unfortunate that its implementation had been bedeviled with challenges.
She pointed out that most health practitioners and society in general do not know their rights.
“As individuals, we ought to understand our own responsibilities when it comes to mental health and our rights to enjoy them”, she posited.
Dr. Kwakye-Nuako backed calls for increased resources to be committed to mental health to improve the general well-being of the populace.
The Head of the Department of Mental Health-UCC, Dr. Jerry Paul Ninnoni
For his part, the Head of the Department of Mental Health-UCC, Dr. Jerry Paul Ninnoni, emphasized there was the need to do a lot in our part of the world to ensure the human rights of mental health patients because “our culture and systems contribute to the stigma against mental health patients”.
He pointed out that about 2.4 million individuals suffer from mental health issues but sadly about 98% do not seek medical attention.
“The question is, all of us have mental health so why is it that when others identify with mental health then the cancer of stigma becomes a problem?” Dr. Ninnoni asked.
The chairman for the occasion, Dr. Akwasi Ayanful, in his closing remarks, advised all stakeholders to contribute positively towards the advocacy of mental health.
“We must all get to know the laws and educate ourselves”, he highlighted.
Source: Documentation and Information Section-UCC
The first sitting of the first session of the 2023 Sandwich Students' Senate of the Graduate Students' Association of Ghana (GRASAG), University of Cape Coast (UCC) has been held.
The event saw the election of the Deputy Right Bench Leader, Hon. Charles Oppong, the Deputy Left Bench Leader, Hon. Wisdom Hedidor, and the Senate Clerk, Miss Mary Kudjo.
The Right Bench Leader, Hon. Samuel Etse Dzakpasu, on the floor of the House, urged the new Members of Parliament (MPs) to be abreast of the rudiments of the Senate to build their confidence in public.
The Right Bench Leader, Hon. Samuel Etse Dzakpas
The Left Bench Leader, Hon. Robert Ipiin Gnankob, lauded the new leaders on their election and inauguration while urging them to chart a visionary path for their constituents to follow.
During the meeting, the House also considered the Sandwich Budget laid before it by Ministers Christmal Kpodo and Alfred Kissi.
In his closing remark, the Speaker, Rt. Hon Selorm Omega, praised the Senators for working to pass many bills into law.
The Left Bench Leader, Hon. Robert Ipiin Gnankob
He urged the legislators to increase their engagements with their constituents and students on important issues to improve their appreciation of GRASAG UCC issues.
Speaker Omega wished students well in their end-of-semester examinations.
The Senate comprises a speaker and his deputy, the chief justice, students representing majority and minority caucuses, the Marshal, and the clerk.
Source: Documentation and Information Section-UCC
The Central Tender Review Committee of University of Cape Coast has toured some ongoing projects at the University. The visit was to bring the members of the Committee up to speed on the projects which are at various stages of construction as well as those completed.
The team was accompanied by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong and the Registrar, Mr. Jeff Teye Emmanuel Onyame.
The team heading towards the Science Annex Project
The tour commenced at the multipurpose facility for the College of Health and Allied Sciences (CoHAS). It proceeded to the Institutional Affiliation Building and completed at the School of Medical Sciences Laboratory building which is presently in use.
Members, who were enthralled with the progress of the projects, applauded Management for its commitment to completing the various facilities and further urged that other ongoing projects be given the needed attention.
Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong inspecting one of the facilities
The Vice-Chancellor, in his remarks, was also impressed with the pace of progress the facilities were seeing. He was optimistic that the projects would all be duly completed on time to enhance teaching and learning as well as the image of the University.
The School of Graduate Studies, Institute of Education six storey Guest House, and the Office Accommodation Project for lecturers were also visited.
Source: Documentation and Information Section
Six scholarship holders of the DAAD-funded SDG Graduate School – Ghana, have received laptops and other souvenirs to aid them in their academic work.
The presentation of the laptops was done at a short ceremony presided over by the Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. Rosemond Boohene.
The scholarship holders are the third cohort of beneficiaries from the SDG Graduate School program in Ghana. The overall project, titled Performing Sustainability: Cultures and Development in West Africa, is a research cooperation between the Universities of Cape Coast (Ghana), Maiduguri (Nigeria) and Hildesheim (Germany).
The Pro Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Rosemond Boohene presenting a laptop to a scholarship holder
At the ceremony, Dr. Eric Debrah Otchere recounted the history of the project and its overall impact on the University of Cape Coast. He noted that since the inception of the project in 2016, up to 18 PhD students spread across the Departments of Music and Dance, Geography and Regional Planning, Classics and Philosophy, Sociology, English, Centre for African and International Studies (CAIS), Centre for Entrepreneurship and Small Scale Development (CESED) and School for Development Studies (SDS) had benefitted from the scholarships.
Beyond the course work in their respective departments, scholarship holders receive monthly stipends, take part in monthly online colloquia and two annual workshops: one at the University of Cape Coast and the other in Abuja, Nigeria. They also get a research stay in Germany during their final year in the program. The SDG Graduate school has also convened a number of writing workshops which have been beneficial to participants from all the colleges in the University. This writing workshop’s model has now been adopted by the UCC School of Graduate Studies to facilitate the completion rates of graduate students.
For her part, the Prof. Boohene expressed gratitude to the SDG Board and urged the scholarship holders to take advantage of the scholarship to make a good impact in their communities.
The Pro Vice-Chancellor chairing the meeting
The Pro Vice-Chancellor further admonished the students to justify the investment being made in them by studying hard and completing their programmes on time
She advised them to be disciplined so that the tenure of the sponsorship would be extended to benefit other students and faculty of the University.
On behalf of DAAD, the Pro Vice-Chancellor presented the laptops to the scholarship holders.
Currently, seven SDG Graduate Schools are funded across the world four in Africa, two in Latin America, and one in Asia. The partner universities can flexibly use a broad range of DAAD instruments for the establishment and further development of these SDG Graduate Schools. In the short and medium term, the SDG Graduate Schools are expected to increase teaching capacities by incorporating information and communication technologies (ICT).
Present at the ceremony were the Ghana Director of the project, Dr. Eric Debrah Otchere, the project steering committee members; Prof. Sarah Darkwah, Dr. Theresa Ennin and Dr. Madinatu Bello; and the Ghana coordinator, Dr. Sabina Appiah-Boateng.
Source: Documentation and Information Section-UCC
